Is Psalm 82 depicting actual gods?

TL;DR: yes, but accusing someone who believes this of polytheism or liberalism is semantic mischief.

Q&A: why should Christians attend church?

A reader asks on behalf of himself and his daughter. I briefly demonstrate that the Bible doesn’t just consider it normal to worship with other believers, but really a practice of such critical importance to our spiritual growth that avoiding it carries an expectation of furious judgment.

Does God need the divine council?

Many people object that since God doesn’t need anyone to help him rule in the heavenly places, therefore there is no divine council. This objection is puzzling, since it is easily repurposed to “prove” that there are also no earthly rulers either.

Does 1 Corinthians 8:4–6 deny or affirm the existence of other gods?

This is commonly taken as an anchor point for proving that other gods do not exist—but in fact, it is saying the opposite.

Who is the serpent in Genesis, and is it an actual snake?

Several different strands of evidence point to the serpent being not an animal, but a shining, serpentine angelic being.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 7: where we are now, and what we can look forward to

God’s end-game is a human kingdom that is not just restored, but glorified, with believers taking their place as new sons of God, ruling with Jesus forever.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 6: how God is retaking Adam’s kingdom from Satan

God used the collapse of his kingdom Israel, and the death of his king Jesus on a cross, to overcome sin and make the human nature itself sacred space. He thereby disarmed Satan’s claim over humanity by crowning a perfect human king in his place—and started inexorably transforming Adam’s ruined kingdom into Jesus’ restored one by dwelling in human hearts instead of in a land.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 5: when God began retaking Adam’s kingdom from Satan

Before we can understand how God is retaking Adam’s kingdom, we must first establish when he began to do it. Daniel 7 was fulfilled after Pentecost when Jesus went into heaven on a cloud and received kingship to place his enemies under his feet.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 4: a tale of two seeds

The fallout of the curse was a bitter war between the seed of the serpent, and the seed of the woman, within the one kingdom God had established. This culminated at Babel, where Yahweh disinherited mankind and divided them among the sons of God—taking Israel as his kingdom and giving the rest to Satan.

If Adam thought Satan was a good guy, was his transgression justified?

A response to Steve Hays, in which I challenge the assumption to begin with, and then doubt the conclusion for two other reasons anyway.

Why think the rulers of 1 Corinthians 2:8 are gods?

In which I outline two significant reasons based on the language used, and what Paul is actually talking about.

Are cherubs just palace guardians?

Steve Hays argues that my view of Eden as the divine council meeting-place trades on ignoring the role of cherubs as defensive rather than administrative beings. I reply with a three-pronged rebuttal.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 3: what happened in Eden

Adam was created as the first human member of the divine council. The serpent was a shining, serpentine being who didn’t like Adam being given dominion of the earth instead of someone higher up…like him.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 2: the divine council

Israel, like all ancient Near Eastern peoples, conceived of the world as being governed by a cosmic bureaucracy—a bureaucracy the Bible calls the divine council. Prophets were brought into this council when they were commissioned.

What is the kingdom of God? Part 1: representation and rulership

The kingdom of God and the kingdom of man started out as the same thing, and Adam’s representation of God is mimicked in the physical world’s representation of spiritual realities.

What should we make of supernatural events in other religions?

We should welcome them as potential proof of Christianity.

Is Psalm 82 metaphorical?

TL;DR: no.

Is the divine council henotheistic?

There’s a rock and a hard place here for anyone who wants to use that term.

Some thoughts on angelology

In no particular order.

Free and cheap resources for understanding the OT in its socio-religious context

A few links for people who aren’t satisfied with “exegesis” that has the serpent in Eden being a snake, or the gods in Psalm 82 being men.